Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong arrested on charges of bribery

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung, seen here leaving a court hearing in January 2017.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

On Friday morning local time, Lee Jae-yong, the vice chairman of Samsung, was taken into custody
at the Seoul Detention Centre shortly after the Seoul Central District
Court issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of bribery, perjury and
embezzlement.

According to a translation provided by the BBC,
the court said in a statement: "It is acknowledged that it is necessary
to arrest [Lee Jae-Yong] in light of a newly added criminal charge and
new evidence."
Lee has generally considered the de facto head of Samsung Group,
since his father, still the chairman by title, was hospitalized in 2014.

Investigators believe that Lee, who is also known by the name Jay Y. Lee, is

that lead to last year's impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Prosecutors claim
that Samsung paid a total of over $37 million in bribes to organizations
linked to a presidential advisor and friend, Choi Soon-sil, who has
been in custody since November 2016. The money was allegedly designed to
foster governmental approval for the merger of two Samsung units.